LOS ANGELES, Dec. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA DECEMBER 26, 2013 – The Folsom, California based NextBee recently travelled to the world-famous shopping destination Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles to conduct a survey on the sharing behaviors of elite shoppers and trend setters. Known for its luxury brands, Rodeo Drive often serves as a bellwether for the emerging trends that quickly make their way to main streets everywhere. NextBee's discoveries during this survey clearly indicate that opinions on style and taste, and those brands believed to have it, are already being influenced by social media sharing to a degree not yet fully appreciated by the wider market.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20131224/MN38185)

Before social media, the only way a brand could really know of their customer's opinions was by offering surveys and providing incentives for completing them. The standard of success was whether or not the survey was responded to within 7 days. In today's world, that's a lifetime.

Now, be it a broadcast text message to their closest friends, or a selfie from the dressing room posted to Facebook, customers regularly share the brands they love before even making a purchase. Following a day of shopping, it is becoming normal and even expected for friends to post well-appointed pictures of the day's purchases to Pinterest for sharing. Leading brands no longer need to focus on incentivizing such behavior, instead they must reward it, or risk losing the customer's loyalty to those brands that do.

As this social media driven word-of-mouth marketing increasingly takes hold, growing a loyal base of repeat customers now requires an engagement strategy that recognizes the new behavior patterns. NextBee is responding in three important ways:

• With branded mobile apps, NextBee makes it easy for consumers to quickly be rewarded by doing what they already love, immediately sharing their experiences with friends and family.
• Tight integration with CRM and POS software solutions allows NextBee to ensure a customer's activities can be tracked and rewarded across multiple databases with ease.
• Branded currency points that integrate seamlessly into your current shopping cart, creating a simple exchange for a variety of loyalty rewards

NextBee's survey results are backed up by other engagement research conducted across the industry. The loyalty industry trade magazine Colloquy recently found that active membership in loyalty programs is growing at a pace of over 20%. Already, 36% of American participate in at least one loyalty rewards program and 69% of American consumers say the base their choice on where to shop in part on the loyalty rewards available.

NextBee's Senior Program Manager, William Rockwell, sees the results of these statistics up close, "It is incredible how quickly we see loyalty spread," according to William, "It's not at all uncommon to see a particular email address from a school or a company enter the system, and within a month there can be a dozen more. People trust their friends. Loyalty programs do more than generate repeat customers, they create quality leads through referrals."

NextBee's expertise in motivating loyal customers seems set to increase as social media continues to expand. The company's multi-channel approach to customer loyalty means greater flexibility than ever for getting the right incentives, on the right screen, at the right time – encouraging customers to share the brands they love, whenever and wherever they want. With an impressive track record of increasing engagement rates for over 300+ clients, NextBee demonstrates a proven skill at providing robust tools and a personalized experience. NextBee extends loyalty programs to where the customers are – everywhere.

Demonstrations of NextBee's referral program and loyalty program features are available. Visit NextBee for more information and to schedule a personalized demonstration.

NextBee is a cloud-based software provider focusing on lead acquisition and customer engagement programs. NextBee seeks to build an army of loyal customers who actively engage your brand with excitement and passion. We provide proven value and solutions that work. Resulting in not only customer engagement, but engagement that drives sales. NextBee promotes easy analysis of exactly which customers, rewards, and types of activities are most likely to determine success. Our efforts allow our partners to optimize spending and benefit from the maximum ROI. NextBee creates and rewards excellence, always.

Copyright © 2013 NextBee. All rights reserved

Media Contact: Martin Verni, Next Bee Corporation, 1-800-547-1618, martin.verni@nextbeemedia.com

News distributed by PR Newswire iReach: https://ireach.prnewswire.com

SOURCE Next Bee Corporation